Aspartame given the ‘all clear’

Aspartame has been given a clean bill of health by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) following its review of data from a research project carried out by the European Ramazzini Foundation, which had indicated a link between the high intensity sweetener and a higher incidence of cancer in rats.

Announcing the findings of the specialist committee today [May 5] EFSA concluded: “On the basis of all the evidence currently available … there is no need to further review the safety of aspartame nor to revise the previously established acceptable daily intake (ADI) for aspartame (40mg/kg body weight).”

EFSA’s panel on food additives, flavourings, processing aids and materials in contact with food (AFC), also noted that intakes of aspartame in Europe, with levels up to 10mg/kg body weight per day, are well below the ADI.

AFC said the nature of Ramazzini’s study “had the potential to be more sensitive to low incidence effects” and “a number of major issues with the study were identified by the panel, which made interpretation of the findings difficult”

In particular AFC noted the observation of a high background incidence of chronic inflammatory disease in the lungs and other organs in all the animal groups tested, which was “considered to be a major confounding factor”

AFC concluded the slight increase in incidence of cancers, known as lymphomas and leukaemias, in treated rats was “unrelated to aspartame treatment” and most likely attributed to the high background incidence of inflammatory changes in the rats’ lungs. In addition, there was no dose-response relationship with respect to increasing doses of aspartame.

It added that the findings in the kidney, ureter and bladder, observed mainly in female rats, were “not specific to aspartame” and were “of no relevance to for humans”. It also called into question Ramazzini’s findings on the discovery of malignant tumors of the peripheral nerves.

EFSA acting chief executive director Herman Koëter said: “EFSA considers that the results of this new study on aspartame do not provide a scientific basis for reconsidering its use in foods. If any new information would become available in the future, EFSA will review these as a matter of priority.”